How much is too much?

Communication I mean. Sure, these days we seem to have higher levels of communication as we have more and more ways to contact each other. Phone, text, email, Facebook to name a few. Per person though, how often is enough? Too little? Too much? For me, I’d have to say once a week is enough. I’m not that big of a communicator (says the woman keeping a blog). The art of conversation somehow eluded me as I grew up. Being interesting instead of annoying, talking instead of babbling. These are things I never really learnt.

Anyway, veering slightly off track here. The reason I bring this up is because my mum seems to think that if I don’t call everyday that I must not care. ‘What if I’m dead?’ is her favourite saying. Much worse if she is actually sick and I don’t call in the mistaken belief that I’m letting her rest. (I actually ignore the phone if I’m sick.) The thing is, I’d know if something really bad happened to her and in general, I don’t have much to talk to her about. Not if I call every day. It’s be, ‘Hi mum. How are you? Good? OK. Bye.’ To me, when we used to stay with her every Friday night, that was good. I’d have a week’s worth of events to talk to her about.

So, am I doing it wrong? How often do you keep in contact with family and friends (those that you don’t see daily anyway)?

Curiosity killed the... curious?

We had an announcement at work a while ago not to venture near the street behind our building. Doors were locked. We were advised that if driving and we normally went down that street, we had best find another way and most ominous of all, "You'll be in no danger if you do not go near H Street". WTF? What's dangerous down there?? Anyway, I merely puzzled over the mysterious message and went on clicking through pictures on imgur. More predictably though, many of my co-workers flocked to the windows to see if they could see anything happening in said street. Apparently there's some yellow police tape and an officer standing about, but no one could really see much else of what was happening.

This reminded me of accidents. Either doing the 360 when you're supposed to be driving because there's been an accident on the road or even pedestrians looking madly about when they hear a crash. What is it that makes people have to look? OK, I’ll react to the sound. Screech of tyres, hand held on horn for far too long in my opinion, but then I continue on my merry way. If I’m driving and I drive past an accident scene, then my brain will fleetingly think, ‘Oh, there’s an accident. Poor person. Thankful it wasn’t me though.’

I’ve noticed other drivers though slow down to about 5kmp/h and practically have their necks twisted out the window trying to get a good look at the whole scene.

Is it just me? Does curiosity overtake you? Or does it not bother you apart from noting what has happened?


                                                                                                             
Update: Apparently it was a chair from a nearby apartment balcony that got stuck on one of the protrusions under the windows. http://media.smh.com.au/news/national-news/highflying-chair-closes-sydney-street-2659944.html

Besotted Wednesdays 14 Dec 2011

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 

For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

Whovians rejoice! Two more of the ‘missing, presumed wiped’ episodes have been found! One being with the First Doctor and the other with the Second Doctor. The BBC have released small clips from each episode.

Keeping in line with finding missing things, scientists believe that they are closer to finding what is commonly called ‘the god particle’ in their efforts to find out how life, the universe, and everything started.

From one scientific field to another, new species are still being found. Psychedelic chameleons and monkey’s with Elvis-like hair-do’s amongst them.

Is anyone excited about seeing another instalment of Men in Black? I loved the first two, but so few movies do well with a sequel, let alone * sequels *. The trailer looks pretty cool though and I guess after saving the planet from aliens, they needed another angle.

Ever bought a knock-off product? How close were they with the details? Many knock-offs seem quite obvious, but there’s the odd one that is almost a perfect replica. A museum in Germany offers some of the more outstanding knock-offs a place, exhibiting the counterfeit next to the original.

Love it or hate it, it seems that Comic Sans is going to be sticking around for quite a long time. You may have seen it used in newsletters, passive aggressive notes at the office, your flatmate leaving you a note, but what if popular brands abandoned their well-known fonts and just used Comic Sans?

Are you looking to raise your offspring to be good little geeks? For their first book this Christmas, why not buy them the My Little Geek ABC book? Naturally, you can also get the accompanying iPad app.

Deadlines. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

Deadlines are something that I need. Otherwise projects/work/whatever sits around for ‘tomorrow’. Sometimes though, deadlines can be annoying. Like this time of year. Every year, my work shuts down for a couple of weeks and every year, I frantically try to clear the pile of paperwork on my desk and every year the same thing happens.

About a month before holidays, I look at my pile and I think, ‘Yep. I’ll get it all done.’ And every time, I get more and more work. Each morning on my way to work, I run through what I want to get done. Each December, I especially want to tackle that pile and every day leading up to the holidays, my daily plan gets shot down in flames.

I know that we all just want to get everything cleared before the holidays, but everyone seems to think what they want me to do is more important that what I need to do or anything that anyone else has given me to do.

These are the times that I wish I was still paid overtime like my old job. I don’t mind staying back a bit to get more done, it’d just be nice to be paid for it.

Does anyone else find that the more you try to get something done, the more other ‘important’ things pop up?

You *have* to learn that!

A conversation in the lunch room one day got me thinking. One of the girls was talking about her sons swimming lesson and somehow it got around to me never having learnt how to swim properly. She looked at me in shock and said, “But you have to learn how to swim! What happens when you go to the beach with your friends?”

Well, I don’t go to the beach with my friends. I’m not really a beachy type person. Even when I had a boyfriend that loved going bodyboarding soon as the sun was up, I was quite happy to stay on the sand.

Then that got me thinking about why she thought I had to learn how to swim. I know that there are plenty of things that society thinks you should learn and I don’t understand why. Unless you’re inclined towards something and/or do reasonably well at it, then why do others think that you have to learn something? I mean, I’ve gone through over thirty years of life and my non-learning of swimming hasn’t affected anything. I don’t feel that I’ve missed out or wished that... I don’t know, wish I was more athletic or something.

Is there anything that you’ve come across that people expected you to have learnt? Or expect you to learn?

Besotted Wednesdays 07 Dec 2011

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 

For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

I can’t quite place my finger on it, but there’s something about typewriters that I just love. Sure, I used to use my dad’s one pretending that I knew how to type while filling up paper with enormous amounts of gibberish. Sure, I can type way faster on a computer, but I still like them. Apparently so does this guy. Although, he’s decided to see if he can paint with his by coming up with what he calls a Chromatic Typewriter.

OK, you’ve got the presents sorted, but what about the cards? GeekSugar have come across some awesome handmade geekified cards for us.

Presents, cards, what about the cookies?? I’ve seen Star Wars themed cookie cutters, but what if you want to make them, but don’t have the cutters? Well, as long as you do have holiday cookie cutters, you should be fine. SweetSugarBelle shows us how to make Star Wars cookies out of regular cutters.

I knew there was a reason I ditched the mini’s and midriff tops. Apparently we’re more attractive when we cover up. I thought it was just my age showing when I tut-tutted girls in revealing clothes!

I love the style of the propaganda posters and apparently so does someone else! He’s taken that style and created social media propaganda posters.

Do you fake it? Or keep it real? These guys love to fake it.

They take popular media and create some awesome imagery.

One of my favourite places to keep up-to-date with technological news. GeeksAreSexy not only keeps me informed, but also amused (and reminds me that I am sexy !)

The Fun Theory

Working in the city, I see so many people just going through the motions of daily working life. Like automatons making their way to work, to lunch, back to work and home again. Rarely noticing anything else going on. Barely even noticing other people around them. This is why it was such a pleasure to come across thefuntheory. They implement ideas, not just to make things fun, but to change people’s automatic routine.

These ideas benefit us emotionally and physically, and in one particular case, the environment. I was really wishing that they would bring their ideas here. Who wouldn’t love ‘playing’ a piano as you walk up and down the stairs, or gain points for recycling? I’m sure it would brighten up your day. Especially if your day at the office wasn’t a particularly good one.

It reminded me of when I came across an adult-sized version of a McDonald’s playground. It was setup for the purpose of a commercial and it was lovely to see so many office workers interrupt their rush to work and have an absolute ball. I felt a little sad when they took it down. It would have been a nice permanent fixture, but of course there’s no real room for things like that in the city.

Do you think people need more fun in their lives? What would you like to see in your area?

Physical photos vs. digital photos

Does anyone actually keep photo albums like the old days? I still have my albums from pre-digital days, but printing out photos I’ve taken with digital cameras, not so much. I still love my photos, but I just never seem to get around to printing them. I currently have an old reminder on my phone to print some blasted photos and there’s a folder on my computer called ‘PRINT THESE NOW!’ I just seem to keep putting it off.

I noticed in my local shopping centre that the two photo shops have gone, but then there are others in the city that are still enduring. So I’m guessing not everyone is like me.

I know there are the advantages of knowing exactly what you’re going to print. You have the knowledge of which shots didn’t turn out well compared to paying to develop a roll of film that you’re not sure if they all turned out well or not. I guess I’m just as happy flicking through files as I am pages. Plus I like my digital photo frame. Much more flexible than being stuck with one photo for a period of time.

What would you prefer? Print out all you photos and have the physical albums or store them digitally?

Besotted Wednesdays 30 Nov 2011

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 

For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

I love pictures from space. Every now and then I check out NASA’s website to see what they’ve come up with recently. Then there are the amateur shots that are impressive in their own right. Like this one who managed to capture a whole other solar system.

Still panicking over Christmas presents? I know I am! Geeks are Sexy have kindly provided us with another geek gift guide. 4 awesome ideas and one very disturbing one!

Hands up who still likes paper? Writing down notes, not having a screen glaring at you. Now, who likes itty bitty things? (Me!) Introducing, Little Printer. Wirelessly connecting with your smartphone, you can print out little ‘newspapers’.

We’ve been promised a lot of things that were supposed to happen ‘in the future’. Who else is wondering if we’ll have hoverboards in 2015? Wired gives us a list of a few things that we were supposed to have already compared to what we actually got.

Need a kids activity for the weekend? How about making some good old fashioned paper snowflakes? And introduce them to some Star Wars characters while you’re at it...

Looking for an alternative to the iPad? ASUS have brought out the Eee Pad Transformer Prime. GeekSugar give a rundown on some of its finer points.

Think you know your movies? Love puzzles? How confident are you that you can crack the code on these movie mashup posters?

How’s that work again?

Are you someone who likes to find out how things work? Figure it out for yourself? Maybe with minimal guidance from someone else? Or would you rather quiz someone with specific details right down to the very last instruction?


I love finding out how things work. When I was little, I had a little calculator that had a clown face that you had to slide up to turn on. Well, I was curious as to how it worked, so I pulled it apart. I never got to use it again though because I couldn’t remember how to put it back together again!


Stories about getting hubby to work the VCR were reversed in my house. Hooking up more gadgets to the TV? That was my job. Got a new fangled digital camera to figure out? Yep, that would be my job again. I usually only read the manual if I really needed to.


Then I come across the people that aren’t so great at figuring these things out. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, because then I usually get to help out! (which I love doing ) I just wonder at how people’s brains can work so differently. When I need to explain something, I find that some can pick up my instructions fairly easily, while others just don’t seem to get it at all and I end up doing what’s needed anyway.


So, which one would you be? Do you like finding out how things work for yourself or do you find someone else to do it for you?

Cars vs. Public Transport

I love to drive. I mean, really love to drive. If people want to use me as their private taxi service, I'm fine with it. Want a lift to Newcastle which is 2 hours away? Sure! No problem! Stop offs along the way? Bring it. I have my own ways of dealing with other drivers and traffic which (usually) don't involve me screaming at other drivers.

That being said, when I had to give up my car a few months ago, I wasn't as sad as I thought I would be. Granted I hadn't been able to drive it for a few months before that because of a repair which was going to cost more than I could afford at the time, but it didn't affect me like I thought it would.

Now, where I'm going with this is; I've realised how lazy I've been as a car driver. I had lived under the assumption that if I don't have a car, then there are lots of places that I won't be able to get to. Not to mention incidental exercise had dropped significantly.

It wasn't until the other night when I left work of a mind to catch a different bus so I could go to Westfields on the way home to pick up some groceries that I realised just how much more I'm getting out and just how many places I can go on public transport. Even finding places that I never would have found out about had it not been for the bus rides. Then there's the added bonus of using travel time to catch up on reading, writing and drawing. OK, so the drawing thing is hard on the bus and my writing is full of bumps, but at least I'm getting more of it done than when I was driving. It's so much harder to quickly jot down an idea or do a quick sketch when you're driving... Plus I think there are some rules about keeping your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road...

So, I think I'm going to hold off getting another car. At least for a while. Anyone else decided to forgo having their own vehicle?

Besotted Wednesdays 23 Nov 2011

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 

For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

You may have heard recently that P.E.T.A are condemning Mario for his use of a Tanooki suit in the latest SuperMario. Here we have Mario’s response...

We don’t have Thanksgiving here, but even I have to agree with this. December hasn’t even started and already I’m sick of being overwhelmed with all the Christmas stuff in malls.

Which tablet computers do you prefer? Apple? Samsung? Sony? They might be a little small compared to this Android monster.

I just love ‘They Draw and Cook’. They combine two of my favourite pastimes! One of the latest recipes comes just in time for tomorrow.

I’ve always loved having a Nokia for my mobile phone, but even I had to admit that their game seemed to be sliding downhill rather fast. After seeing what’s to be released next year though, I’m hoping that they’ve realised where they went wrong and that this is the first step to getting back in the game.

I love fonts. Some may say that I far too many on my computer. I say there’s no such thing. Which is one of the reasons I love Smashing Magazine. This is just one of the many posts pointing the way to fonty goodness.

Rounding up with a comic. I just love Fox Trot. Anybody else have relatives like this at Thanksgiving dinners? Or any kind of family get together?

An accidental experiment in caffeine & sugar

Going through my notes, I came across one entry that I just had to post. It happened one cold winter morning...

---

On this particular morning, I had to leave the house early so I could get to the ATM to get money out for the guy who did my lawns as he had done my lawns a week or so ago even though I told him that I wouldn’t be able to pay him until payday. Anyway, most mornings I don’t have breakfast until I get to work though sometimes I manage to squeeze in a cuppa and some toast. Well, this morning I had a hankering for a frothy coffee of some sort and a bite to eat. After debating the issue for some time in my head, it was decided that as I had a bus to catch, and of course, no food or drink on the buses, that I would wait until I got into town. That lasted for all of about two seconds when I got to the bus stop and noticed the sign in front of the takeaway across the road. ‘Do the $1 danish’. Hell yeah! So 1 flat white and a cherry danish later. I had asked for some cold milk in the coffee so I could finish it before the bus arrived. Usually when I get a coffee, I ask for a small one as that’s enough for me. This time I forgot to specify and was presented with a rather large cup full of frothy wonder.

I did manage to finish that cup and my yummy cherry danish, but it wasn’t until I was on the bus safe from the freezing cold winds outside that I realised I should have waited until I was in town and had time to drink my coffee in my usual leisurely fashion.

On my bus trips to work, I usually do one of four things. Puzzles, homework, read or sleep. Today I thought I had best catch up on homework. After a couple of paragraphs I realised that I wasn’t making any headway and my thoughts were all over the place. More so than usual. Topics would change with blinding speed. Once I even thought, ‘My god is that the time?’ and I was staring out at the clouds.

Once this realisation hit, it became apparent that, contrary to previous beliefs, I am no more immune to the effects of caffeine than any other person. It had just never been so obvious as never had I drank such a large quantity of coffee in such a short time before. I’m actually amazed that I have managed to stay on topic for this long though I’m realising that some of my sentences are rather long. Also, there has been the odd pause here and there as I’ve either noticed something or some other thought has wandered in though thankfully they haven’t made it to paper.

And now I think writing it all down has done me some good as I’ve run out of steam. Besides, it’s almost the end of my bus trip and my thoughts are turning to the boots, jeans, and sweater I wish to purchase for my upcoming holiday.

---

Have you ever found out that something affects you more than you realised?

Gender definitions?

For many years, I've had this 'image' of what a woman was expected to be like, and what is expected from a man. I've also had the notion that if a woman deviates from this she is 'unusual', 'not like other women', 'a tomboy' and something along similar lines for men (though I'm sure 'nancy boy' cropped up a few times).
The reason I bring this up is because I've always felt like I'm one of the female oddities. I don't like shopping. I don't have a shoe obsession. I love cars, action movies and science fiction. In high school I was, at first, one of the few girls to do woodwork and in the end, the only one who stuck it out. Sure, I love the shiny, the cute, the teeny, but I rarely felt like matched what a female should be like.
Then I met the internet. After many years of travelling its corridors, I discovered (and picked up a few new quirks), that I'm not the only female like me. There a tons of car loving, action moving watching, sci-fi reading/watching females out there.
So when/where did the lines get blurred? Or was the notion that I grew up with completely wrong?

Besotted Wednesdays 16 Nov 2011

Bringing you things that have me drunkenly infatuated. Or is it infatuatingly drunk? Either way, it's things and places I love. 


For (probably a long) while, some of the links may seem like old news. This is because I currently have a backlog of pure awesomeness to sort through.

This is one of my new favourite etsy store's. CissyPixie has fashioned jewellery influenced by Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger Games and others. I think I'll be spending a fair bit of my Christmas money there.

The Cheezburger network have introduced mini-sites! Claim yours now before you miss out on the opportunity to showcase your favourite lols.

For as long as I can remember, I've loved the obscure. Mysteries, paranormal investigations, strange facts and previously unanswered questions. So it's no surprise that I love Life's Little Mysteries. Handy little place to quench my thirst for random pieces of trivia.

Another place to satisfy my brain, Mental Floss has plenty of things to inform - or baffle - the mind.

There's nothing like a good photo editor. But what if you're on someone else's computer? Or at work where you're not allowed to install your preferred programs? This is where online editors come in so much handy! One of my favourites is Pixlr for emulating Photoshop so closely. OK, so I don't have all my brushes, but it's good for fixing things up.

Did you like cutting out pictures of things you loved and sticking them up on the wall, in a scrapbook, on a noticeboard, in your school locker, on your baby brother? You did?! Me too! This is why I love Pinterest. It's like a virtual corkboard of all the images that I love.

With Christmas coming up, are you racking your brain for a gift for your sci-fi loving friend? (You don't have to get me a present!) Geeksugar have come up with a handy dandy list of five items that are sure to win over your sci-fi friend.

O.C.D or just a quirk

I like things a certain way. I like things done a certain way. I like my piles of paper on my work desk to be neat. Even if I'm going to throw them out in a couple of minutes. (By 'throw them out', I mean put in the secure document bin for recycling.) I like the newspapers to be in a tidy pile in the work kitchen. I like the stools to be neatly in place under the bench. One day I was rearranging the things in the stationery/printer room because they had been (messily) put in the wrong place. A co-worker saw me, asked me what I was doing and then referred to me as 'Monk'.


Now, I've always been like this. I'll tidy up the greeting cards and magazines in newsagents. But never once have I thought of myself as having O.C.D. I still don't think I do. Of course, I've never actually seen a professional about it, but I still think they would agree with me. To me, O.C.D implies something more serious than what I do. I don't let it rule my life. It wouldn't stress me to leave something be.


Surely that's just human nature? Do you like things done a certain way? Would it bother you if something was  put in a different spot?

The Beginnings of my Ramblings

With so many random thoughts flying through my head space, I figured I needed to get it out somehow. I also figure that there must be others on a similar wavelength to me out there in the big wide world! So I’m putting pen to paper... or text to digital space as the case may be.

So who is this person emptying her thoughts into cyberspace? Well, I’m a mid-thirties mum who likes sci-fi/fantasy books and movies, gadgets, arts & crafts, reading (obviously), ice-skating (though don’t have much of a chance to do these days), and cars (not so much the mechanical aspect though). I’m also the biggest mushball you’ve ever seen. I mean it. You know those ads for Bondi Vet where some pet needs urgent surgery? Have you seen any episodes of Ghost Whisperer? Yeah, I’ll be the one blubbering by the end of it

You’re welcome to offer your own opinions on my ramblings, or even add your own! I may be one cat away from being a crazy cat lady, but human interaction is still a good thing. Right?